Captivate random shut downs

Captivate random shut downs

I was wondering if anyone else's Captivate has shut down automatically? It happened 3 times yesterday the screen goes into standby mode but if you try waking it up you had to pull the battery.

There are lots of people that experience this issue. Does anyone return the phone back to ATT because of it? Did anyone talk to ATT about it. Any response would be greatly appreciated. I'm getting ready to return my phone or replace it ;(

Re: Captivate random shut downs

I've had my Captivate for about 6 weeks and I started having the typical shut down issue....the phone would shut down once or twice, typically within the first 30 minutes of unplugging it from the charger in the morning. About 3 weeks ago, I started checking my mail and the weather forecast immediately after I unplugged the phone. That seems to be enough to sufficiently "Wake up" the phone and run down the battery just enough keep it running. I haven't had a shut down since. (Knock on wood)

Re: Captivate random shut downs

I have been following this string for several weeks. My captivate has been randomly shutting down consistently several times a day. It would always shutdown on its own every single night for the last four weeks while sitting idle on the kitchen counter. I went to local AT&T store where I had bought the phone and they hooked me up with an Android specialist tech at AT&T. He was very nice and knew his stuff. He explained to me that many times this is due to corrupt apps and that wiping the phone clean and putting it back to factory settings would fix this problem many times. He definitely knew this was a problem and didn't act as if he had never heard of it. Well, after reading many of these posts I was very skeptical and I told him so. He was very respectful of my concerns but said we needed to do this to make sure it was not a software problem before saying it was a hardware problem i.e. the phone. Well he was right. This fixed the problem. My phone has worked flawlessly for 3 days now. NO SHUTDOWNS. If this would have been a hardware problem it would have occurred by now. So these corrupt apps can do this. Two other things he had me put on the phone which are very cool apps which I did not know anything about. One is an app called Lookout. It is an antivirus program which monitors your phone, tells you if apps are safe to download, and will scan your phone for viruses, does data backup, and has a missing device function. It is very cool. The second is called Advanced Task Killer and it makes it very easy to see which programs you have running that will slow your phone down. Too many programs running at one time may cause shutdowns. The other thing is, you will be amazed how many programs you have running automatically that you had no idea were running. I suggest you do a total wipe clean and reinstall to factory settings if you have a lot of apps on your phone and then every time you download an app let the Lookout program tell you that the app is safe. Hope this helps some people. I, just as many on this board, was ready to get another phone and it wasn't the phone at all. It was the software.

Re: Captivate random shut downs

I notice on my phone that the shut downs usually occur when the battery is charged 90% or higher. Anything below that and the phone seems to stay powered on. I am going to try to switch batteries out and see if it helps. Sometimes when I charge the phone, it never goes to 100%, so I am thinking there may be some battery instabilties.

Re: Captivate random shut downs

You could try the battery change but mine would shut off regardless of the amount of charge. If you have not done the clean wipe and factory reset, you need to try that. Use Lookout to check all app downloads.

Re: Captivate random shut downs

bassanator wrote:

You could try the battery change but mine would shut off regardless of the amount of charge. If you have not done the clean wipe and factory reset, you need to try that. Use Lookout to check all app downloads.

Re: Captivate random shut downs

Unchecking the power saving mode in the settings really should not affect the phone turning off on its own. Ever since I did the wipe and reset to factory settings my power saving mode has been checked and the phone works fine. I am not saying this doesn't affect some phones but it doesn't make any difference for me. Mine works fine with it checked.

Re: Captivate random shut downs

I was having the same problem, except mine would shut down every time the screen would time out. There's an app called Captivate Keep Alive, and it saved my phone. It hasn't shut itself down since. Fixes it 100%.

Re: Captivate random shut downs

I've had my Captivate for about a month and it started shutting down within a day. I read what seems like a hundred messages on the boards about the problem and what to try. I tried the complete reset that was suggested and that seemed to work for a few days, but the phone was not fully charged during that time. I then charged it fully and guess what, right, it shut off by the next morning. I ended taking it back to AT&T and they replaced it after I requested they do so. I told them the message boards were full of users who were having the same problem. There was absolutely no problem getting new phone. I've had the new phone for 2 weeks now and hasn't shut down once. It has been fully charged several times. It seems to me you can fool around for weeks trying to figure it out, or just go trade it in, (unless you have had the phone too long already and they won't take it back). Good luck!

Re: Captivate random shut downs

I have had my phone since 10/11 and have had the random shut downs since I got it. I went to the store for a new phone today, and was told to hang on till Friday, that there is some kind of software update. I will let him update the software on a new phone. I have tried all the fixes in this thread to no avail. I willl report back on Friday and let you know what happens. Wish me luck!

Re: Captivate random shut downs

Captivate Keep Alive is aimed at people that have already had their device too long for a quick exchange. Hopefully Samsung comes up with a fix, but for now Captivate Keep Alive has been working 100% for a couple weeks.

Re: Captivate random shut downs

One thing to keep in mind about any sort of "keep-alive" utility is that it will likely have a negative affect on battery life.

I do still believe the problem to be a software issue. Although my device was affected by the problem for a period of time shortly after I bought it, I have not experienced the problem in a few months now. The hardware is the same but the software has changed.

Re: Captivate random shut downs

Thanks. After a month of fighting with AT&T and the store, they finally ordered me a new phone today. I didn't realize "Kep Alive" was an app, so I just installed it, and am keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks for the update!!

Re: Captivate random shut downs

I've found a solution to the random shutdowns, and that solution is simply the "TASK KILLER" because after a few shutdowns for the past week i wasnt convince that it would be the task killer that was causing the random shutdowns as i've already searched through the internet and every forum there is about random shutdowns with nothing mentioning about task killer being the major cause, so i was persistant went back trying to solve this common problem(with no luck), then after a week or so i suddenly wasn't able to receive any messages as i can only send it, so like every other Samsung Capivate owner out there with little to no issues, i googled the problem(like the random shutdows) read through every forum there is on the internet and finally came across this forum were someone posted that it was the task killer that can actually cause your phone not to be able to receive messages and to fix the problem was to simply take out your sim card, put it into another phone, turn it on(will simply work and show you all the text messages), take it back out from that phone, put it back into your Captivate, and problem fixed, but to make sure that i wasnt going to have this problem again, i deleted the task killer, few days even a week until now, no random shutdowns at all. So with that being said, the problem is the TASK KILLER!!! UNINSTALL IT!!! YOU DONT NEED IT!!!!